SEATTLE – Swedish thoracic surgeon Eric Vallieres, M.D., was featured Sunday in a Super Bowl commercial highlighting Microsoft Corp.’s history of innovation. The commercial, filmed in part at Swedish/First Hill in Seattle, shows Dr. Vallieres demonstrating the GestSure system, which allows surgeons to manipulate medical images during procedures using Microsoft’s Kinect platform.

“Just by using your hands in front of the Kinect, you can actually control your x-ray without scrubbing out. I can correlate what’s happening on the patient with what’s happening on the images, so there is better flow of surgery and that translates into better care for my patient,” Dr. Vallieres said in an online video that further details the GestSure system.

The GestSure System consists of a Microsoft Kinect and custom hardware and software that enables surgeons to navigate their patient imaging using simple hand gestures. From within the sterile field, the surgeon can use a simple set of gestural commands to control their existing software. The simple plug-and-play system is compatible with all medical imaging viewers and requires minimal hospital IT support. Swedish is the first hospital in Washington to use the technology.

“We are excited to provide touchless control systems to Dr. Vallieres and his colleagues at Swedish to facilitate improved information access in the operating room, as part of their continued drive for excellence in patient care,” said Jamie Tremaine, CEO of GestSure.

GestSure was created to solve the problem of in-OR sterile information access. Using cutting-edge machine vision technology, GestSure empowers surgeons to achieve better patient care while saving time and resources. For more information about GestSure and to schedule a demo of the GestSure System, visit www.gestsure.comor http://www.twitter.com/gestsure.

About Swedish

Swedish has grown over the last 103 years to become the largest non-profit health provider in the Greater Seattle area. It is comprised of five hospital campuses (First Hill, Cherry Hill, Ballard, Edmonds and Issaquah); ambulatory care centers in Redmond and Mill Creek; and Swedish Medical Group, a network of more than 100 primary care and specialty clinics located throughout the Greater Puget Sound area. In addition to general medical and surgical care including robotic-assisted surgery, Swedish is known as a regional referral center, providing specialized treatment in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer care, neuroscience, orthopedics, high-risk obstetrics, pediatric specialties, organ transplantation and clinical research. In 2012, Swedish provided more than $130 million in community benefit in Western Washington. For more information, visitwww.swedish.org, www.facebook.com/swedishmedicalcenter, or www.twitter.com/swedish.